R&D Cherry Wit
Bad Tattoo Brewing

Pours a medium red cherry colour with spritzy white head. Aroma is light cherry with bready notes. Flavour starts a bit thin then progresses to a light fruitiness with wit yeast bready flavours. I sense no spiciness and it finishes with a light herbal hoppy note

Appearance: Pours a cloudy medium-cherry cough drop colour with ample two finger head that dissipates very fast. Head is a slightly pink white and settles into a surface ring made up of medium sized bubbles that kinda stack up the side a bit. The lace itself drops pretty fast with a spatter of latent bubbles here and there.

Aromatics: Cherry (of course) but it is definitely the juice more so than solid cherry which is ok as this is a wit and not a lambic. Its cherry-ness is soft and transitions nicely in to yeasty bread and melon type fruits with a salted caramel that underlies it all. I would have expected a bit more of a wheat/chaff scent but I think the cherry does a pretty good job of keeping it almost entirely sweet smelling.

Taste: Unfiltered water and cherry chapstick (i.e diluted cherry) which is almost immediately replaced with a bold earthy taste, like an almost oaky wooden flavour that carries through the middle and then hits at the end with an kind of boozy-ness near the finish, which is odd given it is only 4.5%. If you let it roll on the palate for a good few seconds the oaky alcohol is more pronounced. Not much in the way of a tang or tart - though there is as slight saltiness and not much of any distinctive finishing flavour.

Mouth: I middle of the road weightiness, carbonation doesn’t play too large a roll keeps just enough gentle fizz to give it some activity; and the finish is rather abrupt and dry like wine with no lingering sensations on the palate.

Overall: Not too bad, much like many fruit session able ales that come out this time of year (especially here in the middle of orchard-land BC). It’s not terribly fancy, but it is refreshing without being too much of a sweet drink. It is fairly mild with that wooden-ness in the middle, but I think I would have it again if I can think of an appropriate pairing for it.

Pairing: Not really sure on this one. It doesn’t have much of any one thing, so maybe just something simple to take it one way without making it complex - like a banana or vanilla ice cream. Something simple to give a little sweetness which I feel is probably being underrepresented.

Light like a session beer. Good looks and smell. Finish and feel like a sparkling wine. Good flavor.